2008 Ford Escape Engine Ticking When Cold
 

My mom owns a 2008 Ford Escape with approx 30,000 miles. A few months ago I noticed when she started it cold the engine was ticking. It happened for about 30-60 seconds and went away and it only did it when the engine was cold. She has warranty so I told her to book it into the dealer. She took it in the mechanic said there was slight exhaust leak from both manifolds. The mechanic broke some exhaust studs during disassemble and ended up installing two new exhaust manifold gaskets, 12 new exhaust studs and nuts. The next morning I started her escape when cold to check for the noise and it was still there. She took it back in and the mechanic told her it was the catalytic converter making the ticking and it was a normal noise. Me being a diesel mechanic and worked on a few gas engines didnt beleive this so I told her to take it back. She went back again and was told that now the problem was a slight leak from the flange on the manifold at the engine that leaks when cold but seals up after about 30 seconds and that it was normal. Again I didnt beleive that so I told her to go back again. This time they said they would replace the manifold/cat assembly. So the escape went in today and they replace the cat/manifold assembly, all hardware and apparently again broke a stud during removal and had to repair it....remember all the studs were replaced just 4 months prior. She got her escape back today and I just went and started it cold...thats right it still ticks. The ticking is loud when you first start the car and the rpms are at high idle. About 2 seconds later the rpms come down to idle and the ticking is faint. If you slightly press the accelerator pedal and bring the rpm up the slight ticking goes away. But if you jab the throttle pedal you can hear the loud ticking until the rpms come back down to idle. The plan now is tomorrow I am going to go into the dealership and talk to them and tell them the problem is still there.

I was just wondering if anybody has any ideas or if anybody else owns a escape that has this sort of noise? I apologize for the long post but I needed to vent. Dealing with this dealer has become very frustrating.

Could it have leaked long enough to have worn a depression in the cylinder head surface? If so, it will never seal. You'd have to use some gasket sealer or cement to fill the gap as the manifold gasket doesn't have enough depth to fill the 'valley' and seal. Some available products will fill the gap, and then set up after a while as the pressure is not real high in the exhaust.
I have noticed a similar sound on my 07 with 106k miles that goes away after the engine runs for a minute or two. I crawled under, looked at the 4 studs & nuts I could see and the head around the manifold, and figured I had to get it up on jackstands to get a good look. Nothing stood out on my front manifold during that inspection. I don't want to wear a spot on the head where there is leakage, so face the same problem you are having.
If this is a one-owner vehicle, then you might mention that it didn't do it when the vehicle was new, so you know that it is not 'normal' and 'they all do NOT do that'.

Either the head is deformed or the exhaust manifold flange is deformed or the installation is being done improperly for it to leak. The only way to find out is to completely remove the manifold and check the surface for flatness. Likely it is warped. They are expensive as the catalytic converter is part of the assembly. Ho boy, I can't wait until mine gets louder... not.
tom

This has been a ongoing problem back and forth at the dealer for 5 months. I am not sure if that is long enough to create a low spot like you said. But you did bring up a good point. I am going to ask the mechanic if he checked the flatness of the head with a straight edge and feeler blade before putting the new manifold on. I can almost guarantee it wasn't checked. I am thinking of maybe taking some soapy water and starting the car cold and hitting the front manifold with the soapy water and see if any leaks are noticeable.

If all that fails I am going to suggest to my mom that she trys another dealer. Another problem we are having with this dealer is I checked my moms oil a few months ago and it was low. She has always had the oil changed at this dealer and mentioned it on her next oil change. They installed dye and she brought the car back. On the work order it says they suspected a leak at the rear main seal. The removed the oil pan to check the rear seal and ended up just installing a new pan gasket so that leads me to believe the rear seal was fine and wasn't changed. I monitored the oil and again it was low a month later. She took it back and this time they changed the front seal and installed a new pan gasket. After that I forgot about the oil since we were dealing with this ticking noise. Well last night I was under the car looking at the manifold and there are a few oil drips hanging from the front of the engine and the right front cv axle is covered in oil. There is also a film of oil on the bottom rear of the engine. I guess it goes back to Ford for that problem too.